Galleries : Undying Tales 2019/2020 : UT 7 - Bee
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ORIGINALS: BEE - 6.5x6.5 inches $225.00 (SOLD)
Highlighted Species: Short-haired Bumblebee - Bombus subterraneus Status: Globally, bee populations have been suffering due to climate change and pesticides and destruction of native habitat and flora. People often hear of the plight of honeybees, but those are not endangered. The native wild populations of bees are the ones that are at risk. These wild native bees are vital to our agriculture as crop pollinators, which is supplemented but not replaced by cultivated honeybees. 16th Century Italian Poet Ludovico Ariosto wrote an epic poem “Orlando Furioso” (”The Madness of Orlando”), a tale inhabited by fantastic creatures, monsters, sorcerors against a backdrop of war and chivalric romance. In the poem is a good sorceress named Melissa, who is an acolyte of Merlin. The name “Melissa” has its origins in ancient Greece, where the priestesses of Demeter were called “Melissae”, meaning bees, and were creatures with the gift of foretelling. Through the Middle Ages, bees were associated with the gods, with magic, with prophecy, and with fairies.
Size: 6 x 6 inches Detail closeups:
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